Lady Luck's Love
by Acerbus Animus
Summary: What Nick discovers while investigating the murder of an entire family will not only change his life, but the way he views his job. This case will indefinitely leave imprints on his heart. [slight NickOC]


**Disclaimer:** I don't own any of this stuff, ok? It all belongs to its rightful owners.

**Claimer:** I own Randilyn and the plot.

Nick found himself standing next to Greg at one of the bloodiest, goriest crime scenes he'd seen. Next to him, he heard Greg inhale sharply, the tell-tale sign that he was fighting the urge to purge his stomach. He coughed, ignoring the urge to do the same thing. He'd never been that partial to blood, either.

He was learning, though, that in this line of work, immunity was key.

"You can do the outside, first," he offered.

Greg nodded, obviously grateful, and picked up his kit. His walk out of the house was quick; Nick chuckled softly. He'd done the same thing not that long ago.

The walk up the steps seemed normal to him, if he ignored the bloody footsteps on the stairs and the hand smears on the railing. Not for the first time did he find himself thinking that the family didn't deserve this.

The oldest son's body was lying in the middle of the floor at the very end of the hall. His hand was reaching to the left as if wanting to open the door and protect whoever was inside. The strange thing was, his twin sister's room was on the other side of the hall.

"What's more important than your twin?" he asked the body, not caring he wouldn't get an answer.

Stepping over the body and its blood puddle, he pushed the door all the way open. To his surprise, the bed inside the room was unmade and the blankets were all in a huge bundle on the mattress. Glancing over his shoulder, he frowned. The boy's eyes were fixed on the bed. He looked back.

Suddenly the ball shook and he actually noticed the blood spreading on the fabric. Eyes wide, he rushed over to the side and began to pull the covers away.

To his horror, there was a young girl lying there, bleeding from multiple stab-wounds to the back. She coughed heavily, more blood running through her teeth.

He grabbed his walkie-talkie. "This is Stokes. Got a live victim here…"

As he relayed the information and asked for an ambulance and some paramedics, the girl's eyes opened and focused on him. She moved her mouth as if trying to speak, before smiling. Nick could see the fight going out of her.

"Hang on," he said, trying to encourage her. "You're going to be fine. Hang on."

"Thank you…" she whispered, blood slipping over her lip and onto the white sheets.

He ran fingers through his hair in obvious frustration. "Don't thank me yet. Thank me when you're back on your feet and helping us find the bastard who did this."

She just continued to smile at him. "I have faith in you."

"Then let me prove that faith isn't misplaced," Nick said, pleading; if he kept her attention, she might keep fighting. "Do _not_ give up now. You've lasted this long."

The smile was frozen in place; her eyes were filling with tears.

"I thought he was alive," she whispered. "I fought for him."

He didn't say anything. There wasn't anything he _could_ say. He only had a vague idea of what she was going through, having recently gone through his own trauma.

"He wouldn't want you to give up. His last breath was to come and protect you."

Tears and blood mingled.

"He never got to learn about the baby…" she whispered.

His eyes widened. "Live for the baby, then! It's your last tie to him. As long as you have that baby, he is still alive."

Her eyes slid shut with a heavy sigh. "Thank you."

"For what? You've already thanked me."

"Wanted to do it again." She smiled again, eyes firmly shut. "I'm Randilyn."

"Nick."

---

"She was naked?"

Later after the ambulance had taken Randilyn to the hospital, Nick was being bombarded by questions. He sighed.

"I didn't really look for that, Greg," he tried to explain for the tenth time. "She was lying on her side."

"Was she hot?"

He twitched. "I couldn't tell through the blood."

"She was stabbed in the back."

"Fine! Yes, she was hot, alright?" he snapped. "She's pregnant and under-aged, so drop it."

Greg backed away, hands in the air. "Alright. Sheesh."

Still angry, Nick shoved the camera into his colleague's hands. "Go take pictures of the bodies."

Grimacing, the abashed Greg nodded and slipped back into the house. The anger was still fresh, raging through Nick like a fire. He couldn't even explain _why_ he was so upset. The last time he'd recovered a living vic, the girl had been in elementary school. He'd thought of her as more of a cousin or sister.

Randilyn had been different. There was something about the way she'd looked at him.

"Hey, Nick?"

Surprised, Nick turned to look at his supervisor, Catherine. She was watching him, an eyebrow raised in question. He turned to her, deciding to push thoughts of the living vic to the back of his mind.

"Yeah?" he asked, stepping toward her.

"What can you tell me?" she asked, arms crossed.

The look on her face only added to Nick's bad, and worsening, mood. He sighed, really wanting a drink.

"Whoever the guy is, his main target is unknown. There didn't seem to be any indications for who was really supposed to die. The parents and younger sister were killed in their beds. Only the mother seems to have woken up, perhaps if her husband got attacked first, she might've screamed. This could've warned the other brother. He's a teenager, by the time he gets moving, the younger sister's dead."

"He goes to protect his twin sister. That makes sense," she said.

"Actually, no," Nick muttered, shaking his head and looked away. "The boy's body was facing the guest room. I'm guessing he was going there."

"The twin?"

He shrugged. "I didn't get that far."

"Why not?" She wasn't happy, that much was obvious.

A somewhat agitated hand rushed through his hair. "I wanted to know why he dragged himself three feet and died stretching his hand out to the guest bedroom instead of his twin sister's."

A thinly plucked eyebrow arched in surprised curiosity.

"What'd you find, Nick? Why am I having to pry this out of you?"

It didn't even occur to him to apologize. Glancing down the street in the direction the ambulence had taken the wounded girl, he sighed.

"There was a lump in the blankets…"

The entire time he was restating the experience, he was looking at the house. He could see Greg wandering around inside, randomly scooping down to do something. _He_ should be inside processing the upstairs. That or at the hospital watching the girl.

"Did you find out her name?" Catherine asked after he'd stopped.

Her eyes were slightly widened with shock. It wasn't everyday that someone was found still breathing hours after receiving multiple stab wounds.

"Randilyn," Nick answered. "She and the older twin are lovers."

Catherine looked back at him with _both_ eyebrows raised. "Was there a sign?"

"She told me she's pregnant." He waited for that to sink in before continuing. "The only reason she didn't call for help was that she didn't want to live without him."

"Looks like she won't get her wish, if they hurry."

He nodded. "Looks that…way…"

Greg was running toward them. "Guess what I found?"

"What?" No-nonsense was clear in her voice.

"The older sister's missing."

That got them alright. They both gaped at him in total surprise.

"The suspect took the body?"

"No," Greg stated immediately. "She's gone, as in body _and_ blood."

"Then where is she?" Nick asked, mind reeling.

"My guess?" Greg didn't wait for either to reply. "She's either at a friend's _or_…they took her."

Catherine blinked. _"They?"_

Nick sighed and rubbed wearily at his eyes. A victim might be missing and his boss is more interested in the correct grammatical use of pronouns. The case was just getting better and better.

"At least two different shoe prints."

He mentally winced at his easy dismissal of evidence.

"I should go check on—"

"—No. I want you to finish upstairs. I'll have Grissom and Sara go to the hospital to process her."

There was no room for argument. Even if he'd wanted to, it would only get him in trouble. With a nod and a sigh, Nick headed back inside. Greg followed.

"You wanted to process her, didn't you?" Greg teased.

He tried not to show any signs of anger; he really did. However the newbie didn't notice anyway. Nick shook his head.

"No," he stated forcefully. "I'd want Sara or Catherine to do the processing. Even _if_ she was unconscious," he added as the perverted man's mouth opened again.

"Fine."

Greg didn't believe a thing Nick said. That much was obvious. The two of them split up and got back to work.


End file.
